Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier slept on the floor of the Texas House on Monday night in protest of Republicans’ ongoing push to redraw state maps.
Earlier this month, many House Democrats left the state to delay a vote on a Republican redistricting plan aimed at creating additional GOP-leaning congressional districts. The push in Texas is part of a broader mid-decade redistricting trend encouraged by President Donald Trump and backed by the state’s Republican leadership. The Texas initiative has prompted reactions nationwide, with both red and blue Governors saying they are prepared to redraw their states’ legislative maps.
Upon Texas Democrats’ return to Austin this week, House Speaker Dustin Burrows imposed new rules: Democrats could leave the House chamber only with written permission and under the supervision of law enforcement until the legislature reconvenes Wednesday morning.
According to a report from CNN, most of the Democratic legislators went along with the plan. They showed reporters confirmation that they were allowed to leave the state Capitol, calling their papers “permission slips.” Collier refused to do the same.
“My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights,” she said in a statement. “I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts. My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents — I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.”
Collier shared a photo to social media, wearing a sleep mask and bonnet on the House floor.
“This was my night,” she captioned the post.
U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, likened the requirements placed on state Dems to a “Jim Crow playbook.”
“As a former Texas State Rep., let me be clear: LOCKING Rep. Nicole Collier inside the chamber is beyond outrageous,” she wrote on X. “Forcing elected officials to sign ‘permission slips’ and take police escorts to leave? That’s not procedure. That’s some old Jim Crow playbook. Texas Republicans have lost their damn minds.”
Republican legislators blasted Collier’s state Capitol sleepover, calling it a “stunt” and a “total waste and abuse of public resources.”
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